Throwback Thursday: Solomon Northup: Keeping the Legacy Alive
Last year, a patron named Clayton Adams showed me an amazing story that taught me a lot about injustice, resiliency, and hope. It began with trust, followed by deception and injustice, and ends with justice and reunion. And the fact that this story happened at all and that we can go out and read or watch it (I encourage you to do both) is what ultimately gives me hope that we will progress. This story is called Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup.
Fight the Stigma: Books That Raise Awareness About Mental Health
Mental health includes our emotional, psychological and social well-being. We all experience various forms of mental health, and it’s only when you add terms such as “illness”, “problem” or “disorder” to the end of that phrase, that your awareness is shifted from well-being to something that needs to be fixed (or is beyond fixing).
Drop-Dead Easy… I Hope
Here’s the thing when you can knit (or crochet or sew) — you can probably feel pretty good when it comes to a baby shower gift, because even the most stoic mom-to-be will go starry-eyed over something that you made for their little one. The ability to use your long-honed skills in order to present a handmade sweater, little socks or quilt is pretty cool; even better is when you get a photo a few months later of the tiny person looking cozy in your creation.
Accidental Discovery: Lynda Barry
Every library lover has at least one story about a magical moment of serendipity when they stumbled across a book or author, previously unknown to them, who turns out to be a new favorite. We all know that libraries are are great for that type of exploring — you can check out a fat stack of titles and revel in anticipation about what you might find. That’s how I came across Lynda Barry, a prolific comic author and artist who was undiscovered by me until I saw a recommendation for her book, One Hundred Demons, on the library’s website last year.
Who Wrote It Better? Hillbilly Elegy and White Trash
Last year’s notable “twin books” were Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance and White Trash: the Secret 400-Year History of Poverty in America by Nancy Isenberg. The first is a memoir and the second a volume of history, but both examine the plight of poor and working-class whites in America. Hillbilly Elegy has been on the NYT Bestseller list for 39 weeks now, along with making the rounds in media and landing on several lists that purport to explain Trump’s successful run for president to those who thought a Clinton victory was in the bag.
George Lucas: A Life
2017 marks the 40th anniversary of the premier of the original Star Wars. In honor of this momentous occasion, be sure to check out Brian Jay Jones’ definitive biography of the Creator, George Lucas: A Life.
How Does Your Garden Grow?
I’ve been very slowly redesigning my front garden and planning where I want to put some fruit trees. Several things are helping me through this process: my grandmother and mother’s advice, my garden journal packed with notes and observations from the past few years, and lots and lots of books on gardening in general and garden design in particular. I can’t provide you with a grandmother or a pre-filled garden journal, but I can share the books that I’ve found most helpful in my garden design process.
Women’s Voices: Great Audiobooks Read by Their Authors
Those of us who spend lots of time commuting or on long walks, or who enjoy listening to books while we’re engaged with chores or stationary hobbies can attest that getting lost in an audiobook is easy to do, but it’s a real bummer when you don’t vibe with the narrator. Sometimes the voice gets on your nerves, sometimes you don’t feel like the tone of the narrator matches up with who you imagine characters to be, and sometimes you don’t really know what’s bothering you about it, but a voice just rubs you the wrong way. One (almost) sure-fire way I’ve found around this problem is in listening to memoirs.
How Bad Feminist Inspired My Writing
Recently, I finished reading Roxane Gay’s memoir, Bad Feminist, and I really enjoyed it. The memoir was funny and relatable. One example of this is when Gay mentions the fact that she feels that she’s a bad feminist because she loves rap music. Gay mentioned this a few times in the book, and I was thinking “Me too!”
Throwback Thursday: Women in World War II
I recently finished reading The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II by Denise Kiernan. It is a fascinating look into a town that never existed on any map but had a HUGE influence on the outcome of World War II. Although not all of the residents were women, of course, the story is told through the lives of several different ladies who found themselves at this historic place.